Key stat: Played 77.7 percent of the team’s defensive snaps as an undrafted rookie free agent.

Landon Collins was transformed as a player by moving to strong safety where he could be a bigger impact force in and around the box, but the play of Adams in his old free safety role was also a huge factor in the transformation of New York’s defense. Adams got his chance to start in Week 5 and put together a sequence of impressive displays, ending the year with a PFF grade of 79.4.

Although Thompson appears to have the inside track at the free safety position entering 2017, secondary coach Dave Merritt has cautioned against anointing him the starter prior to training camp. One major reason for that was the play of Adams in 2016 and his progression so far this offseason.

“I would be remiss to say that, ‘OK, no, Andrew is not in the picture, it’s all about Landon and Darian Thompson,'” Merritt said. “That wouldn’t be correct because [Adams] came from the practice squad to all of the sudden starting multiple games for us. So I’m not going to end up throwing this kid out and saying, ‘You know what, now that Darian Thompson is back you just stay here and wait.’ ”